Tomorrow Won't Come, Let's Do Something About It
by aretsuna
Summary: The Monolith trapped Jemma in a time loop, forcing her to repeat the same day over and over again until she will find a solution. But this is not a story of how Dr Simmons saved the universe. No, this is a story about her taking a loop off. AKA another Monolith AU, because there is so many better options than this ridiculous love triangle.
1. Dr Fitzy and a mug

**#3 They put the spark in me. And now all it does is burn.**

There were no days and nights, just blurry moments or _almost_ clarity. Sometimes Fitz woke up and was sure he was still dreaming because nothing felt real, let alone right. The colours were too bright and hurting his eyes, or simply too dim to catch his attention. The sounds made no sense and all of his attempts to find anything resembling harmony were in vain. His arms were made of glass, not listening to him at all, and stubbornly laying still. In those moments he was just closing his eyes, denying everything around him until he fell asleep again, finding refuge in darkness and silence.

Other times he was sure he was sleeping because everything was dark and there was this pleasant haze around his mind, and yet he could still hear voices. For once they made sense, but when he tried to focus on them and answer, he dropped further into night.

With time it was getting better. The colours turned into shapes and shapes into figures and sometimes he was even able to give them names. There were moments when he woke up and stared at something, unable to recall names and purposes of things surrounding him, but more and more often he woke up and after the initial disorientation he was able to recognise something. Sometimes he noticed a book on his desk, sometimes he saw a person sitting in a chair next to him, asleep or smiling at him as if he had done something that made her happy. Sometimes he had no idea where he was, but other times he saw her and wanted to hold her hand, to wipe the worried look from her face. It was easier for him to distinguish between things, between day and night, between being awake and sleeping.

After some time he could stay awake longer, and so he noticed and remembered more and more.

He noticed that there were people around him, and remembered that they were different, changing each time.

There was this young women with brown hair and eyes, the one that was always sitting close and sometimes holding his hand. She was always talking to him in a voice that sounded like a song to his ears, telling him strange things or reading to him. It put him at ease at first, giving him some strange comfort and illusion of safety. Then he started to worry, because he couldn't quite catch what she was telling him. He knew she was asking him questions, sometimes easy ones, like "do you recognise me?" to which he was working hard to nod and show her that he was there and he remembered. Sometimes they were way too complicated for him to even understand the words, let alone how they worked together in a sentence. With each day the pattern was getting more and more stabile: easy question, nod, a wave of words which made him lost and her looking at him with sadness that she tried to hide in her eyes but failed, him trying to do something, anything to stop feeling like he'd disappointed her. And then there was the night and day and it started all over again.

There was this other woman, even younger, with long hair, that was always smiling, always cheerful, always lying and trying to trick him into believing in this false happiness. Making him wonder why she was insisting so much on pretending everything was fine when it was obvious in her every move that nothing was.

There was a man, much older and always elegant, that sat and looked at him, clearly not knowing what to say and yet stubbornly staying near.

There was a woman, black hair, strict face. She was silent, always made sure he had his blanket close and brought him flowers, rearranging them in the vase so he could see their colours and feel their smell. He liked it when she came to visit, since in those moments of confusion, she was the only one that brought only calm.

There was a man, tall, muscled, dark skin, bright smile, the one that at first made him uncomfortable for some reason, but with time his cheer seemed to radiate around the room and filled even Fitz with a strange hope that there was a light at the end of every tunnel.

But time was not still and everything was changing. Especially the way his brain was processing things around him.

Soon, he opened his eyes and saw Simmons sitting next to him, heard her talking about her latest projects and wished he could join, but his mind was still stumbling on longer words and his arms were still too heavy to move them and catch her hand.

He noticed bags under Skye's eyes and how tired she was, sitting next to him in her training clothes, bruises on her arms and sometimes on her face. He saw how she tried to cheer him up, when she herself was heartbroken.

It became more and more obvious that Coulson was worried, more than he'd ever seen him, not only about Fitz, but about many other things clouding the Director's mind.

He saw that May was doing her best to stay strong and calm, even though there were problems storming everywhere around her, forcing her to be cautious and ready at every second.

Even Trip was becoming more and more tired of gloominess surrounding him, tired of following blindly and sticking to the place life threw him into. All he could do was smile in hope that this way he would at least make a difference in this chaos.

Finally Fitz noticed what he was trying to deny this whole time: he couldn't speak, he couldn't move more than a tiny bit, but worst of all, he couldn't focus and reach any meaningful conclusion, his brain being stubborn and not as sharp as it used to.

* * *

 **A/N:**

The title of this chapter is a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer s07e02 "Beneath You" it's from the same Spike speech as the fic's title.

Thanks to TheLateNightStoryTeller and amandajbruce for beta reading.


	2. A break in

#3 Sweet break in

Fitz demanded answers, which was not surprising. He had run to her, all pale face and trembling hands, desperate to make sure she was still there. Not wanting to say the same story over and over again, she dragged him to Coulson, forced them both to watch the video of her capture and release again, and explained all that she could. The time loop making her repeat the same day over and over, until she got it right. The calculations Fitz and her were working on in countless alternative versions of this day. And what she needed from Coulson now. They took it surprisingly well, especially after she showed them a flash drive with recordings they both made in her fifth loop, for the sole purpose of convincing them faster and not wasting time on trust issues.

"So, you want me to continue those calculations?" Fitz asked looking through the data on the flash drive she gave him.

They figured this one on her 8th loop. They didn't have enough time to make calculations and plans, but _she_ _had_. So Fitz was putting everything on her flash drive and she took it with her on the next loop where Fitz was continuing right from the spot he stopped. He was doing surprisingly well with this abstraction.

But not this time. This time there would be no calculations, just actions. Coulson gave her a free hand in everything, assuring her that she would get everything she needed. Exactly like it happened in all other loops. This one was different though, but she didn't see any reason to tell Coulson that. It wasn't like any of this would be permanent.

Still, she hoped she would go unnoticed with this one action. She sneaked quietly around the corridor, carefully checking every corner in case someone would be there and could spot her. She managed to get to the door without any incident. Looking around again, just to be sure, she then pushed a few buttons, the same combination she knew for years now, since back at the Academy.

The lock opened and she pushed the door, disappearing inside the room like a proper super spy that she technically was. She went straight for the drawer, pulled first the top one, then the second. Finally she found it, hidden in the last one: Fitz's secret stash of candy, the one only for emergencies and blackest of hours, when there's nothing but healthy food in the pantry.

Jemma took them all out, the simple biscuits made from real butter without even a trace of anything resembling organic ingredients, packs of crisps, chocolate, pretzels, wine gums, doritos, red vines, gummy worms, all flashy foil and paper, high in sugar and fat. There was even a Scottish tablet in there! Jemma was looking at it for a moment and then with trembling fingers, knowing that what she was doing was bad, she reached for the first pack. Maybe she would go with it unnoticed. Maybe nothing bad would happen. Maybe Fitz wouldn't notice and in a few hours all evidence would be erased anyway. So truly, there was no harm done, right?

 _Right,_ she nodded to herself and tore the first pack open, catching a few chocolate biscuits immediately and pushing them into her mouth.

It was so long since she allowed herself some junk food. The biologist in her was screaming about all the poisons she was putting into her body with this food, about the absolute lack of nutrition value and bad influence it could have on her. But her mind was calming it with logic: _the loop will erase it_. She can have all the pleasure of eating this without having to worry over consequences, of her health, of her weight or shape. It will all be erased just like the bruises on her knees. All but the memory of this moment when after years of war she was making peace again with the pleasures of every kid. Others sweets soon followed, ripped foil covering the floor and "food" disappearing in her mouth.

"Wha-" She heard a shriek and a crash of some metal shattering on the floor.

Jemma looked behind, trying not to feel guilty even when she had evidence smeared all around her lips and on the edges of her fingers. Fitz stood in the doorway to his room, his mouth hanging open, looking at her with eyes wide as plates, some device crashed at his feet.

"What a-are you-" he stuttered, still in shock.

"I can explain," she rushed with her speech about logic, catching occasions and missing some things even when one knew they are destructive and how it doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't have those things in the first place.

She was right. Fitz was _furious_.

He calmed down only after 43 minutes when they were both debriefed for a mission she told Coulson about, having only a few hours left in the base before they would fly away. His hesitant forgiveness came with the price of her promising to prepare supper with dessert as an apology and peace offering. And ensuring him that it won't count as the dinner date he invited her for.


	3. Dresses and gardens

#4 Dress to impress... somehow

"Daisy!" Jemma knocked for the third time at her friend's door.

"What?" It finally opened.

"I need the most smoking hot dress you have. For this evening." Jemma barged in, looking around and unable to fight a smug smile after she saw Daisy's surprised face. For once it was Double Doctor that was impulsive and taking charge.

Daisy had lots of nice clothes, but unfortunately, there were some size differences. Seeing how her plan could crash she was determined to somehow salvage it.

Jemma Simmons had an above average fashion sense, this was a proven thesis. She was beyond all lies of marketing trying to convince women that beauty, true beauty, had anything to do with the tag stuck to the material or a designer name, she knew that it was all smoke and mirrors, trying to fulfill shallow desires with lies. She was beyond paying horrendous amount of money for something, just because it had a symbol of some famous producer on it. She was an intelligent woman who didn't need a tag on a piece of material to feel good and pretty.

Jemma Simmons was also on a free loop and what nobody can't remember can't hurt, she thought walking through undercover wardrobe and looking around. There was no time for a trip to Milan, but she didn't have much trouble convincing Coulson that special clothes were absolutely necessary.

A while later the scientist smiled at herself looking at her reflection in the mirror, Versace dress, Prada heels, Chanel bag. Not only were they fashionable, they were also hugging all the right places, highlighting all her assets, making her look absolutely astonishing, to the point that she would ask herself out on a date if she could. But then she would have to decline herself, because she would still prefer to go out with Fitz.

Designer clothes may be overrated, but she for once she could just enjoy them simply because she wanted to. They were not of much use hanging sadly in this dusty room anyway. They would be of much more use displayed on her not-a-real-date-just-a-pre-date supper.

* * *

#5 Jardin Botânic, bring + 1

This part of her list made her absolutely proud: convince Coulson to send her and Fitz to Brazil for a mission. That required only the two of them. Living in a luxury apartment in Rio de Janeiro, just a nice walk away from Jardim Botânico, one of the best botanical gardens in the world, that she dreamed of seeing for years now. Fitz even agreed to go with her, baited by the promise of a cake after. He was getting more and more energetic when they were walking down the streets, shopping on the stalls for groceries she would use to prepare their supper, not knowing the language and trying to compensate for it with Fitz's expressive waving that made her smile so bright that she couldn't really focus on bargains.

The evening dress was definitely too much, she decided later, when they were back in their apartment. Fitz was clearly having trouble focusing and was doing his best to not look at her exposed skin, unfortunately deciding that not looking at her at all would be the best solution. Apparently the "smoking hot" style was not the one Fitz would prefer for their first date and to say the truth she was not really surprised, more like flattered that he was fighting so hard to not let himself stare (too much). Next time she could check how he liked this pastel plain dress she caught a sight of in the undercover missions closet. She would also have to remember not to cook and proceed with Fitz's initial plan of going out.

It was a good thing she tried cooking in the loop first. She was a master of sandwiches, a goddess of choosing the right organic snacks, a true queen of making salads. Still, her and meat just couldn't get an understanding of any sorts, especially when she didn't really have any way to prepare it. She knew all Fitz's favourites and she destroyed them all, burning, drying, over-salting. Fortunately, her fruit salad was a champion aiming straight for gold so here they were, eating some take out and fruits with a freshly baked cake and drinking the best wine that they found, her in her fancy dress, him in a shirt and dress shoes, laughing while trying to figure out what was happening on the telly, doing impressions when actors were speaking foreign sentences.

As much as Jemma wanted to not let any negative thought ruin her vacation, she couldn't help but notice Fitz tensing when their movie had a commercial break and they had to stop their fun with language, sitting in silence with atmosphere getting heavier with each second. Something was clearly bothering him.

"What's wrong, Fitz?" she decided to ask, because she really didn't have anything to loose and lots to gain.

"You wanted to do this," he motioned at them "because you know it will be erased? So if it won't work well you can just go back and say no?"

"What?" she choked surprised by this absurdity. "No, of course no! I wanted to do this, because I'm done with wasting time. How much longer can I wait Fitz? 70 loops where instead of our dinner all I had was calculations and saving the world... I wanted to have at least one, when we can simply enjoy ourselves. Like it should be. Besides I don't know if I will remember any of this when I will be out of the loop," she admitted. "Plus, you know me, I'm always overthinking and I was… afraid that something would go wrong. So I wanted to… you know. Make sure I won't do anything stupid. Like this dress," she waved at her clothes.

"You look stunning in that dress," Fitz smiled with shyness.

"I noticed," she answered with the same smile. "But I'd rather have you functional than stunned."

They sat there for a moment, the mood changing from uncomfortable to cozy, filled with their gentle glances and smiles.

"We could have this forever," she told him when the realisation hit her. "This moment, over and over, forever. No interruption or obstacles. If something would go wrong, I could just fix it in the next loop. We could see the whole world, each time something new," she added dreamily.

Fitz was silent, looking ahead and furrowing his brows slightly.

"But that wouldn't be us," he pointed out after a moment. "Not really. I mean, each time the loop starts, it all gets erased. I wouldn't remember, so it technically would be just you. And while safer, it wouldn't be actually real, yeah? I mean, it's not like I could wake up one day after a week of us being together, or prepare a monthly anniversary-"

"You would?" she interrupted him.

"Of course I would, it's a monthly anniversary." Fitz shook his head like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What I mean to say is that we would be stuck at first date. Forever. When there's so much more waiting ahead."

"You're right," she nodded, because she knew she couldn't do that, not really. Ignore what was happening just for selfish yearning for peace and stability, was just not her. She wouldn't resign from their future for a shadow of a real relationship that they could have if she break free from this loop. When. When she breaks out of this loop. "But for now, I have a loop off, so let's just enjoy it. Just this once."

He smiled and she smiled right back, stealing a kiss from him and immediately hiding behind a show of watching the movie that resumed a moment ago. Soon this moment would be just a beautiful dream she had once, something that wasn't really true and only she would be able to recall, but for now she was going to just live her dream.

There were no tomorrows to worry about, all that was was them, here, together as they always should be.


	4. The Professor

#6 Call the "Professor"

When Jemma was four years old she'd learned how important it is to learn from the best - otherwise one would waste time in search for credible information, only to find it inaccurate and spend even more time trying to get rid of bad habits. That was why, when she had been four and wanted to learn about the history of the neighbourhood, she went to Mrs Williams, the oldest resident. For the same reason she went to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy when she was looking for answers to mysteries of the world. This exact belief made her go straight to Fitz whenever she needed help with anything about engineering in the last ten years.

Unfortunately, the best attorneys didn't understand her hunger for knowledge and belief that masters should share their wisdom with others. Even when she assured them that they would get paid as much as needed, they still refused to see her on such short notice. Jemma was a scientist and she knew better than to give up when one experiment went wrong. She opted for the next solution, which was the best substitute for private lessons: YouTube videos. After an hour of watching best scenes from the most popular court dramas she thought she got the basic hang of things. Crossing out from her findings the overall plot of: army investigations, model turned lawyer after an accident, struggling with a husband politician and the standard childhood friendship, she got enough pure data to prepare. After another hour her speech was complete and ready for rehearsal, after which she just needed 40 minutes of taking deep breaths and staring at her phone while Fitz pat her arm in encouragement, made her tea, told her funny and stupid stories about dogs and monkeys to make her less stiff, and finally reminded her that she had two PhDs and achieved so much by now, so this was nothing to her.

Still, her fingers trembled a little while dialing the number she had found on Harvard's website, and her heart was pounding in her ears even louder than the dial tone in the phone. Her mouth went dry when her mind was coming with all the reasons why this was a bad idea, but seeing Fitz smile at her filled her with renewed courage. If someone as smart as him believed in her, she had to be right.

"Hello?" An irked voice filled her ear.

"Hello?" She answered, her voice a little quivery. "Professor Hojo? This is Doctor Jemma Simmons from, uhm..." She couldn't said she was from S.H.I.E.L.D. since that was classified and the agency didn't exist anymore. "Well I'm calling from Brazil, but that's not really important," she crinkled her nose in slight embarrassment after realising that actually she could tell him about S.H.I.E.L.D. The loop would erase it anyway, that was the whole point after all. Fitz squeezed her hand and she felt some of her confidence coming back "What's important is your last article in Science Fair, and how it's a pathetic example of ignorance and a disgrace to science itself!" She started her rehearsed opening sentence. Maybe she was getting too emotional, but it was a rare opportunity to tell that prissy old guy exactly what she thought about him and his "expertise" - something she wanted to do for a long time. After all, it was Professor Hojo who was giving her troubles at every science conference since she was a 16 and giving her first presentation.

As she continued her speech, bringing up exhibit after exhibit, calling her own research and the ones of others as witnesses to testify against his weak line of defence, she proved just how wrong he was in his research and latest publication about DNA mutations. She continued with asking him armor piercing questions that showed without a doubt how he was ignoring basic laws of nature in his experiments. Maybe he was even forging results and wilfully manipulating data to support his ridiculous theories. It lasted until she demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt his guilt of completely ignoring her own input in the field over the years. Publishing findings before it was properly proven and ignoring hard work and research of other scientists were crimes so big it could be seen by any reasonable and prudent person, and Jemma just couldn't let slide. There was no jury to be convinced by her closing argument, nobody to announce the verdict, but if she could judge by Fitz's wide and cheerful smile full of pride, she won the case. She defended her view on the matter and proven that Hojo was guilty as charged. Happy that she did so well during this trial, she agreed to the settlement: his written apology in the next Science Fair with adding corrections and proper credits to his latest article. A punishment fitting a crime.

Even if the next loop would erase it all, and so the apology will never see the daylight, she would still know. She would still have the satisfaction and faith that justice will prevail.

* * *

 **A/N:**

This chapter is dedicated to all female scientists, because unfortunately there are still some dinosaurs hiding all over the world, who think that female shouldn't "play" science.

Huge thanks to TheLateNightStoryTeller for beta reading this and brainstorming about what Jemma might argue about. I decided to go with DNA mutations since genetics is the only part of biology I actually liked and understood, and we have the whole "Mutants can't be in AoS because of some law problems" thing too.

Huge thanks to SuperIrishBreakfastTea for helping me with the "lawyer language" - since I couldn't really describe the science part, I thought "why not make a court drama instead?"

Professor Hojo is a reference to Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core (although he appeared in all the others FFVII works). He was the one who ordered Zack (and Cloud) to be locked up and experimented on (which lasted for four years). He was basically the bad scientist behind everything in the game. And he was experimenting with alien cells and mutations too. Mrs. Williams is a Doctor Who reference ;)

There are four court dramas references in this chapter (but I've watched only three of them), I wonder how many titles you can guess?

There will be one more chapter added to this story, with a very alternative ending ;) As always, feel free to visit my tumblr and send me a prompt for this story!


	5. Alternative Ending

This is an alternative ending prompted by klassmartin on AO3, that I had written a while ago but the editing part took way too long. It is not how I actually imagined this story to end, but it was nice to write. Fair sugar warning for this one ;)

* * *

 _The feeling was a little strange but also very nice_ , Jemma thought while tightening her hold on Fitz's hand. She closed her eyes in content after taking a deep breath of air full of his scent. It was definitely nice and she was hoping with all her heart that if she wouldn't remember all of her loops, then at least she would remember this one, the most important one from her own point of view. She wished that the feelings she had during the evening she had spent with Fitz would stay with her forever, alongside the knowledge that there is something amazing waiting at the end of the road that made the whole journey worth it. After all, after so many loops here she was: laying comfortably with her head on Fitz's chest and waiting, hoping that seconds would last forever and this final half an hour of her loop wouldn't ever come to an end. For once there was no rush or explosion to be expected, just a peaceful moment with the two of them holding onto each other. She wondered how it would be this time: would she fall asleep only to fall to her knees in front of the Monolith again, or maybe she would just blink and be moved in time and space?

She looked at the clock again - only five minutes left. That meant they were laying there for twenty five minutes already, not doing anything except being together. It was such an easy activity and yet it filled her with purest joy. She could hear sounds of a busy street somewhere in the distance, but it didn't capture her attention as well as the heartbeat that was drumming straight into her ear and soul. The couch was soft and comfortable, as could be expected of five star hotel, yet no pillow could beat Fitz in comfort - she felt as if her head was on a warm, solid cloud that was carefully keeping her safe. Everything that was not him was simply the background to what they were sharing and experiencing.

"How many loops have we spent like that?" Fitz asked her, his fingers combing through her hair.

"It's the first one," she told him and looked up at his face.

"What will you do in the next one?"

"Go back to calculations and trying to break the loop. I don't want to think about it," she murmured into his shirt. Her break would be over soon, but for now it was still lasting and she intended to spend every second she had left with Fitz - without any worries.

She wrapped her arms closer around him and hugged him. It was the last point on her list after all - to hold Fitz until the end.

"We're still going for dinner," he whispered, more to himself than to her.

"Mhm," she murmured and looked at the clock. Two minutes. "You can tell me where you're taking me," she nudged him.

"No, it'll be a surprise," he smiled at her. "Let me have this one ace up my sleeve, now that you've had a trial run for everything."

"It was for a glorious purpose of gathering data," she smacked his arm playfully. "I'm not gonna wear that dress," she smiled remembering their previous conversation.

"I liked that dress."

"Maybe for a second date."

"Technically it would be a second date."

"We agreed it wouldn't count."

"Well it wouldn't but you'll still remember. So it will be a second one for you."

"We don't know if I'll remember." She looked again. One minute. "But we will go somewhere no matter what. Even if I forget the loops."

"Of course we will. It's long coming."

Jemma smiled to herself. He was waiting way too long, but now she had 70 loops of waiting too.

 _30 seconds._

Fitz brought her closer and kissed the top of her head.

"We'll figure it out fast and go on our date in no time, you'll see."

She just nodded, focusing on his smell, the sound of his heartbeat, the rise and fall his chest that was moving her up and down with his every breath, trying to engrave that moment in her memory.

 _20 seconds._

Closing her eyes she tried to get lost in this tiny bit of time that was left, suddenly remembering each New Year's Eve, when they were together, counting down seconds left to something new, something they were sure they'd face together. It was so different now but also similar. Maybe they would not be together in a minute, but they were now and they'll find their way to each other, always, regardless of what time and space would try to pull to break them apart.

"Ten," Fitz whispered into her ear, pulling her more fully against him, as if he was afraid she would slip right through his fingers.

"Nine," she mumbled into his neck.

"Eight," he pressed his cheek to hers.

"Seven," she kissed his jaw.

"Six," he looked into her eyes. "I'll be waiting for you," he said and she smiled, because that wasn't exactly true, since he wouldn't remember, but she knew that she would. Always. Even if the memories wouldn't be clear, there would be a part of her soul always knowing that they are meant to be like this.

"Three," he gulped, his fingers making soothing circles on her arms."Two,"

"One," Fitz placed the last kiss in her hair.

"Zero," she prepared herself for something, a pull or push or a blow and sharp pain in legs hitting the ground.

Nothing happened.

"One?" Fitz asked with furrowed brows. "You're sure you remembered the time right?"

She abruptly turned her head and looked back at the clock.

"Well, not to the seconds, I know it was 23 past, but maybe not on the dot?" she explained and interviewed her fingers tighter with his. It could be any second now, but she was going to keep their connection until the very end, so she returned to her previous position, breathing him in and out, waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting even more.

"It's already 25 past, Jemma," Fitz pointed out.

"The clock must be broken," she decided and reached for his phone that laid on the table next to them, only to see that the screen showed the same time. She should be gone for two minutes by now.

"Haha, very funny," Fitz suddenly laughed. "You tricked me with the time, didn't you? A surprise extra hour? Not funny, Jemma, you have no idea how stressful it is to wait for your girlfriend to disappear straight from your arms, I can't go through that again!"

"Girlfriend?" She send him a smile that was aiming to be flirty but ended up slightly shy.

"I'll forget anyway, so why not pretend," he shrugged smiling back.

"You don't have to pretend," she pecked him on the lips. "But I wasn't joking. It was supposed to happen..." She checked his phone again. "Three minutes ago. Something went wrong," she shook her head.

"Or maybe something went right," he smiled at her.

"Maybe it's because of solar time differences?" She tried to find a logical answer again.

So they waited a while longer, but nothing happened. She was still in Brazil with Fitz in their luxurious room.

After twenty minutes she called Coulson, asking about the Monolith. All readings were normal, the base was secure and there was no explosions. After an hour Fitz got hungry so they went to the kitchen for him to eat some leftovers of the fruit salad they had had before. She went after him, still holding his hand, afraid that if she let go for a second she would be swept into the loop again, and that the last she was holding onto won't be the man most precious to her. After an hour and a half they figured that maybe that was the problem, maybe she couldn't time jump while touching someone, so she reluctantly let go of his skin, staring right into his eyes the whole time. Still nothing. After five minutes they decided to try closing her eyes but she still stayed in her place. Two hours later they decided that apparently the loop closed on its own and tried to understand why.

"Maybe it wasn't about all those calculations you were doing, maybe what you had to do all along was leave the base?" Fitz proposed.

"No," she shook her head. "I left in third loop, hoping that if I would be far enough from the explosion it won't happen or at least the loop would break. It didn't work back then, it must be something else."

"Nothing happened in the base, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary," he pointed out. "So maybe it was both of us leaving the lab?"

"We did it. In eleventh loop."

"Well then, the answer is obvious." Fitz shrugged. "The universe wanted you to take a day off," he grinned at her.

"Oh, Fitz." She rolled her eyes. "You know perfectly well that it's impossible. The universe doesn't care about such trivial things like me resting or being happy and carefree! It has bigger problems!"

"You're a scientist, Jemma, you can't argue with the facts."

"So all those calculations we did, there were for nothing?"

"Hey, I didn't do any calculations, it was you and previous Fitzes." He twisted his face with discomfort. "Ugh that sounded... bad. But hey, maybe the calculations were meant to teach you that sometimes the best solution is just to take a step back and relax. Rest a moment instead of overworking yourself?"

Jemma couldn't find the answer, couldn't find any counterargument. After all, what did she know? She was focusing on solving the problem so much that she hadn't thought about the source at all. Who knew what the universe wanted? Who knew what it cared about? And who could prove that it wasn't caring for even the tiniest living creatures and its well being in the strangest, inconceivable ways? Maybe the cosmos actually wanted her to get better and wanted her and Fitz to be happy together.

Fitz was smiling with this wide grin she remembered back from the Academy, the one that he showed just before they started bickering about projects because he found something she had to disagree with.

"Why are you smiling so much?" she asked with confusion.

"Because you owe me a whole stash of candy. With some super rare sweets," he grinned at her.

"Ugh, really?" she shook her head. "We just closed a time loop and you think about food?"

"Hey, it's a whole shelf of emergency sugar, you know first hand how important it is to be prepared," he teased. "And you promised that it will magically replenish in less than 48 hours..."

"I've made you a dinner for it," she reminded him.

"Well, I remember you _trying_ to make it," he tilted his head in the direction of a sink full of dirty pots. "But somehow I can't remember actually _eating_ it..."

"Oh, stop it!" She twisted her face in shame after realising that her cooking fiasco wouldn't be erased after all. "Eat your salad, you said you like it," she mumbled.

"Of course I do," he nodded like it was obvious. "But I like my emergency shelf full too. And come on," he caught her hand in his. "Cheer up! You're free from the loop, isn't it what you wanted the whole time? It's going to be a funny story soon. And we're here together now, we still can enjoy the evening. I'm sure there's something great we could do in the evening in Rio de Janeiro. How about we go somewhere for dancing? Without it counting as our dinner of course," he winked and pulled her closer, swaying their hands a little as if he was going to dance here and there.

"You don't like dancing," she reminded him. "I had to battle you about it before our every trip to the Boiler Room."

"Wrong. I can't dance. But we're in Rio - city of music and dance, nobody knows us here, and we have Coulson's credit card."

"Oh no!" her eyes widened at the mention of her boss. "Now I'll have to explain the bills to the Director too..."

"Hey, we've completed the mission, right? The loop stopped. Isn't that enough of an explanation?" Fitz didn't let go of her hands and his smile was contagious. "Besides, what did the loop teach us, hmm?"

She looked him in his bright blue eyes and dropped her eyes to where her hands were surrounded by his warm hold. Smiling, she took a step closer to her boyfriend.

"That I should let myself be happy every once in a while," she told him.

"Mhm. And I'm going to work really hard for it to be much more often. At least everyday." He moved to kiss her forehead but she beat him to it and kissed his lips instead, a happy giggle escaping her.

Tomorrow she would have a lot of explaining to do, but for now, Jemma still had their evening and she was not going to waste a single second of their happiness.


End file.
